


Scars

by Dalphinia



Series: The Forest Flames [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Green Arrow (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt Oliver, Implied Incest, Incesty, Tholiver, queencest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 02:21:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3633084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dalphinia/pseuds/Dalphinia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Arrow recites the wounds on his body like they are poetry, keys to the jumbled lock of his soul, and Thea decides to trace them and undo him until he can breath no more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scars

Scars

Thea Queen is angry.

She's unable to beat Oliver, unable to fight him as he expertly twirls his baton. He slashes out from underneath her and she's on her back again and her face must be hilarious because he's laughing, the sound clear in the cold air and it's all Thea can do not to yell at him.

"You're such a show off Ollie" she grumbles and he smiles easily, looks almost ridiculous in his big coat and his Bo in one hand, grinning at her like a monkey from atop his rock. She stays there, lying down on her rock, body itching with the desire to get up but she likes the warmth of the sun on her face and since she's sweating, she tugs off her jacket murmuring out an "It's hot here" automatically.

Her Bo is still poised in her hand and she half expects Oliver to jump onto her and start their training again but he jumps effortlessly, lands next to her and strips off his heavy jacket.

"I haven't relaxed in a long time Speedy" he muttered, panting as he lay down and she agreed, panting just as heavily, sleepily patting his chest and automatically tracing the indentation at the join of his arm and shoulder. She remembered the scars she'd seen last year, remembered that there was supposed to be some sort of horrifying burn mark there.

"So many scars" she said and he chuckled, though the sentiment wasn't exactly happy.  
"You wanna know how I got these scars?" he asked and she laughed, "You actually know that line Ollie, I'm proud of you" and he smiled at her, easy and ineffable.

And Thea Queen finally knew why she felt so at peace, she finally knew her brother's secret and all of his other sins went flying out of her thoughts like doves let out of a cage. But she was never one to let a sleeping dog lie. "Why didn't you tell me first? I think I'm pretty much the last to know"

Oliver didn't look at her "Quentin doesn't know" he said, avoiding the answer. Thea turned to him, brushed her nose against the warm bicep stretched out next to her. She wanted to press him, prod him for answers but if there was anything she'd learnt recently, it was to be quiet and let him answer.

"Hmm" she breathed out against his bicep enjoying the shiver he gave her and the tremble of emotion that coiled inside of her at his movement. She'd really, really missed Ollie.

He turned on his side until she could feel his breath wafting out on to her cheek.

"I want to know your scars" she said and he almost stiffened in front of her. She had the feeling he really hadn't let anyone see them in a long time. " _Speedy_ " he breathed out and there was an underlying emotion there she couldn't place.

Or maybe she could place it pretty well and just didn't want to.

"Ollie" she whispered, just as quiet but much more firm. He sighed and the motion rippled through his body and Thea breathed out in time to him, shielding her eyes against the sun as she turned on her back and supported herself with her elbows to see him clearly.

He gave her one last pleading look but she felt.... _powerful_ and he seemed to sense that somehow in their lives, _Speedy_ had got herself a steelier backbone than the one she used to have.

He sighed again and shuddered, closing his eyes as he pulled his shirt off with one graceful sweep of his hand at the neck. The rock they were on was hard and unforgiving, and Thea moved a little to compensate for the ache in her elbow. She watched Oliver remove his shirt and lean back and felt a swoop of sensation low inside of her before she reigned in the familiar, unnameable feeling as she took in his scarred torso after a long time.

"At least you didn't get any new ones, Ollie" she said shakily, reaching out to touch him, ignoring the way he hunched over at her touch, the same reaction he'd given her that day when he was dressing up.

She watched his fingers wiggle out the corner of her eye, watched him give her a look halfway between pleading and amusement.

She sat up, crossed her legs in front of him and demanded, the same little sister demand she'd gotten away with so many years. "Tell me all of them Ollie" He grasped her fluttering hand, squeezed her fingers and dragged her until her cheek was resting against his chest and she could hear his heartbeat pound steadily.

They were close now, almost embracing and Thea felt, rather than heard the "This makes it easier" that Oliver growled out, voice rough with emotion and Thea struggled to contain her own feelings as well, unfamiliar to be so close to her brother and it was odd how in that instant, he felt much _more_ than a brother.

The sun was warm, containing both of them in a yellow haze but as Oliver started the story of his first scar, Thea's hand tightened upon his shoulder and she imagined that the air had become cooler and that a cover of grey had enveloped her surroundings.

She breathed in, the growing hair on Oliver's chest tickling her nose as he talked, swallowing in the warmth of their closeness, their last secrets out in the open but driving them together instead of apart. "The first one was from the ship" Oliver said, his voice back to normal and Thea wondered why it was deeper than usual, deeper than what it had been before he'd disappeared

"When..... "Thea began and trailed off, nervous, afraid of upsetting Ollie and selfishly wondering if he'd clam up then and there and refuse to tell her anything.

He smiled then, unnoticed by her and slipped a consoling hand into her hair. He rather liked the shortness of her hair and he ruffled it playfully, the slashed ends rough on his hand, a contrast to the otherwise smooth strands that splayed out.

"You know I kinda like your short hair" he mumbled and she smiled, lifted up her hand to rest consolingly on his, joining their fingers together. "Ollie" she prompted.

He sighed again, "There was a falling cabinet and it decided to catch on my shoulder when we went down. It didn't bleed much but there was a scar" and saying this, he moved Thea's hand to his upper chest, where she warily touched a raised bump on his skin.

"Oh" she said, feverish with worry for him and the line of work he was in. He stayed silent through her gentle exploration and Thea traced the scar before leaning in and almost, unconsciously, she kissed him there, lips feather light on his injury and heard him shiver lightly.

It could've been innocent, an extended version of a concerned sister, but it didn't feel that way. The gesture contained heat that Thea hadn't expected and her cheeks almost burned at the other kind of heat that had rolled through her at his noiseless acceptance and pleasure.

His hand reached down to grip her neck lightly as she bent to give him another kiss, tracing the raised bump with her tongue, humming gently on his chest. His grip lightened and returned to her hair when Thea gave the scar a parting kiss and looked up at her brother, amazed at the relaxation in his gaze, at his. . pleasure.  
His eyes opened to gaze straight into her hers and they both swallowed at the same time, emotion in their faces clear before Thea was the first to turn away and bury her head into Oliver's capable shoulders.

He stroked her hair again, the gesture more proprietary than anything else and Thea breathed into his neck, the warmth of the sun upon their backs almost too much now but neither finding any sort of will in them to pull away from each other. "Thea - " he said, voice choked as she hummed into his neck, hummed the lullaby they both knew as children.

He told her the story of his scars, outlined each one for her, and watched her as she kissed the pain away. They'd come to the last one, the one Oliver left alone, the one he didn't like to think about.

But Thea is insistent and she sits up, tilting her head to trace the wound with her eyes, curious in a way he hadn't thought she'd be. Oliver's skin tingled with her kisses and his body buzzed in relaxation. He didn't like the glint in her eyes that told him she needed to know what his last scar was.

"Thea" he says, protests really, and she gives him a searching glance, lies down again until their legs and arms are touching, her nose resting against his chest.

"You didn't tell me about this one Ollie" she says, but the sound of it is muffled because she doesn't lift her head.

" _Speedy_ " Oliver mutters, like it hurts to say her name, hurts to be so close to her. And Thea doesn't push him, wishes her biology wouldn't betray her when she moved up to wrap her legs around his hips and stare into his eyes.

"Ollie" she breathed.

"Thea" he said, equally stubborn, pain in his eyes reflecting through and Thea wonders if she's pushed him too far.

“Okay Ollie” she says, disgruntled outwardly but worried within at the strength of relief evident in Oliver's face. “Thank God” he says softly and pulls her into him, hand tightening on the back of her waist so they're nose to nose and their lips are centimetres away.

“ _Speedy_ ” he groans and just when Thea thinks he's going to do _something_ , he closes his eyes and plants a kiss on her forehead, warm and lingering too long.

“Rest” he says and so she does.


End file.
